Most boxing headgear is designed to provide coverage of the forehead, cheeks, chin, ears, nose, and lips. This helps obstruct direct contact when a fighter is struck which, in turn, is helpful in reducing cosmetic injuries and reduces the impact and number of punches to the face.
By reducing facial damage, head gear allows boxers to train at a higher level of intensity and greater frequency. Competition headgear also allows combatants to compete in multi-day tournaments and advancing tournaments more often. The use of headgear helps reduce scratches, cuts, minor bumps, and bruises that can prevent a fighter from advancing in an event due to injury.
Although both serve a very similar purpose, training (used in the gym) and competition headgear (used during competition) have differences in design and construction.
Training headgear is typically thicker, covers more potential points of contact, and provides a greater amount of protection. They have an extra layer of padding around the ears, larger cheek protectors, and sometimes even feature a padded chin or full-face protection with a bar that prevents almost any contact at all. Training head gear is used more frequently in sparring and daily drills, so they require more padding, greater coverage, and additional safety measures.
Competition headgear is generally less bulky, with thinner padding and sometimes no cheek protection at all. The design of headgear used for actual competition also takes into greater consideration the need for a fighter to be able to see peripherally and with less obstruction. They also don’t have additional padding around the ears to prevent busted ear drums or swelling but feature a hole to allow for some airflow.
Overall, the use of boxing headgear, in training or competition, helps reduce cuts, scrapes and minor injuries that can inhibit a fighter’s career and chances for prolonged success.
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